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Saturday, August 17, 2013

Congratulations Arizona Rattlers, Arenabowl XXVI Champions

Today at Arenabowl XXVI the Arizona Rattlers proved that
once again they are the best team in the AFL. For the first time in 17 years an
AFL team repeated as Arenabowl Champion. They actually came 4 points short of
winning Arenabowl XXIV, they won last year over the Philadelphia Soul in
Arenabowl XXV and once again won this year over the Soul after a hard fought
battle that saw the Philly kicker miss 3 extra points and a field goal, the
Rattlers fumbling the ball on the Soul 1-yard line and a 4th down
stop with Philly rolling with under a minute left.

I don’t know why but I have been drawn to the Arena Football
League since its inception in 1987 and an Arizona Rattlers fan since the city
was awarded as an expansion team in 1992, I actually had a friend on that ’92 team.
The Rattlers have the second most Arenabowl wins (4) and second most
appearances (8), trailing only Tampa Bay Storm (5 and 4 respectively). The
Storm is one of the four founding teams, originating as the Pittsburgh
Gladiators.

Surprisingly with a sport that has a small but rampant fan base, the 14 teams averaged 8,195 fans per game this year, you would think that there would be more support from the collecting world. Upper Deck released two sets in 2005 and 2006 complete with autographs and relics but nothing new since, some teams do release individual team sets but they are unlicensed. This sport seems to be ideal for Upper Deck too, you would think that an AFL license could be had for a song and a dance, come on... this is Upper Deck, the guys who signed a deal with Major League Lacross in 2010.

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About Me

I started collecting as a kid but by the time I hit my teens my interests were elsewhere. I returned to the hobby in 1992, just in time to see the junk wax era go in to full swing. My collecting interests have changed over the past 25 years and I prefer to focus on just a couple of players.

My collection is very specific now because I want to keep it controlled and organized, I now focus mainly on my Ken Griffey Jr. & Jay Buhner collections.